No Star Shone Brighter
by Zarius
Summary: Everything was coming down to choices, and the choices were not always to her or Ethan's liking (tag for 1X03)


**THE DEMON HEADMASTER**

**NO STAR SHONE BRIGHTER**

**WRITTEN BY ZARIUS**

* * *

Lizzie and Ethan were underestimating everyone.

Everything was coming down to choices, and the choices were not always to her or Ethan's liking.

They had ceased an opportunity to recruit another to their cause, only they weren't biting it. The Headmaster had made that person the best she could be, a genius in her chosen field, and she was more hurt by the consequences of _their_ choices than the purpose fuelled by her lack of one.

Lizzie and Ethan were left pondering what choice they had now. They could only resist as a two-person army for so long before their attempt at warning the world gave the authorities no choice at all.

That was the danger Lizzie had faced earlier, when Ethan had cast her out of his home and she felt so scared, so isolated, that she reached out to the law of this land to try and bring this form of order to justice.

That hadn't worked, but then, perhaps it was never destined to. She'd seen so many books and television dramas where the police proved inefficient, never believing the word of a child, nor bending to the will of one.

And they had every right to. For every well-meaning student, there were many others who served an irrefutably hostile function, who were islands onto themselves and who shrugged their shoulders at discipline.

She felt dirty to even be considered amongst that crowd's company, that she'd been forced into that unnecessary role just to prove a point.

The choices did not come easy for her, but she felt compelled to play her part, especially if it meant it shaped her into a being of total non-compliance. She needed to remain out of reach, out of control.

She thought about the science fair, about the trap she and Ethan sprung to prevent the Headmaster's sizeable snare of every student's parent and guardian, how Ethan and she used an ultra-sound device to disrupt the signals the Headmaster was using to spread the reach of his hypnotic advances.

The trap they sprung proved cataclysmic; it caused delicate test tubes filled with chemicals to shatter, creating a chain reaction that resulted in a highly dangerous gas forming. Ethan was trapped beneath the stage being used at the fair, hidden from any helpful hand bar Lizzie.

Lizzie tried to pry the stage hatch open, but couldn't move the mobile trolley containing the damaged science apparatus.

It was in this moment that the Headmaster offered his services, telling her to run along while he saw to Ethan's well being

She didn't know which choice to be more concerned with, the fact she chose to obey, or the fact she chose to _trust_ him.

Or the fact the choice he made saved Ethan's life.

He must have known this wouldn't be the end of it, that saving Ethan's life did nothing to postpone resistance. Unless he was absolutely sure he could contain that revolution and still needed every student secure for his ambitions, it would have been the easiest choice to make in just letting Ethan slip away.

Something in her told her that this was a safe choice, and it had little to do with the kind of grip the Headmaster had on her and the student body.

This was something altogether clearer to her, a _humane_ feeling, and she believed it may be the key to relieving the Headmaster of something else he had a seemingly near unshakeable hold over

His own conscience.

There was something of a morality to the man, where when faced with the suffering of a student, he could not stand by and watch them be invited to death's doors.

When he told her he'd save Ethan, she freely trusted his choice, and now, she steadily realised the choice of what to do with that knowledge would alter her game plan.

It may concern her, but it didn't _frighten_ her, and that perhaps was the gift he had given her in return for his partial control.

Any other child would have caved under the pressure, the reality of the choices in front of them, but no one at Hazelbrook was ordinary were they?

Every student was a star.

And in saving Ethan, in placing her trust in him for this moment, Lizzie recognised that, regardless of what he would do in the future, there was no star that shone brighter this day than the Headmaster.


End file.
